What Trump Can Do for Us: New at Reason

“Not my president” is the theme of the protests that have been staged in dozens of cities across the country since Donald Trump was elected last week. “I share the sentiment,” Reason’s Jacob Sullum writes. But while Trump will not be his president, “neither is Barack Obama, and neither were any of the eight other men who have occupied the White House since I was born,” he adds.

The phrase “my president” smacks of subservience, as in “my liege,” “my lord,” or “mein führer.” In our constitutional republic, the person selected for the job that Trump will assume on January 20 presides over the executive branch of the U.S. government, not over you or me, writes Sullum. So, if there is an advantage to electing a preening, petty, thin-skinned, whiny, vindictive, vacuous, mendacious, boorish bully to that office, it may be that he prompts a reconsideration of the absurd hopes and cultish veneration that surround the presidency. Perhaps a ridiculous president will encourage Americans to take the presidency less seriously.